The Price of Passion (Texas Cattleman's Club: Rags to Riches 1)

Beth and Gracie had their list of potential donors to the silent auction to be held at the TCC masquerade ball in October. They’d already gotten promises from several of the business owners in town, but there were many more to contact.

After her visit with Burt, Beth didn’t really feel up to the task of talking to a lot of people. But this was her job and she was going to do it well. She wouldn’t let Cam affect the life she’d built. Besides, once this task was finished, she’d be talking to him about all of this and she’d have her answers then.

“Do you want to split the list right down the middle?” Gracie asked. “I’ll take the bottom half, you take the top?”

“That would probably be the best way to do it,” Beth admitted. Then she looked at Gracie and smiled. “But it’s more fun when we go together.”

“True.” Gracie laughed and reached for her cell phone when it rang. She glanced at the screen, then slid the phone back into her purse.

Beth sent her a questioning look. “You don’t have to take it?”

“No, it’s just my mom,” Gracie said. “She’s probably calling to tell me she and my brother have made it to Galveston safely.”

Beth sig

hed. “A week at the beach. Sounds like heaven right now.” Especially because it would get her out of Royal and away from Cam so she could do some serious thinking.

“I know. Mom loves the ocean so much I hate that she can’t be there more often.” Then Gracie gave a sharp nod. “When I win the PowerBall lottery, the first thing I’m going to do is buy Mom a huge house on the beach in Florida. She’d be near her sister, and that would make her happy, too.”

Smiling, Beth said, “Big plans.”

“Dreams,” Gracie corrected wryly. “But dreams are wonderful, aren’t they?”

Hers used to be, Beth admitted silently. When she was a girl, she’d dreamed of a life with Cam. Of owning their own ranch and raising kids and horses. Eventually she had woken up and her dreams had dissolved under a good coating of reality. Still, this wasn’t about her own shattered illusions.

“You bet. So, when you buy your mom that big house in Florida, are you going to move with her?”

Gracie flipped her long dark hair over her shoulder and shook her head. “No. Royal is home. I’d miss the people. My job. And—” She broke off as if worried she’d said too much. Then she added, “I wouldn’t want to leave...”

There was something she wasn’t saying and Beth studied her friend for a long moment or two before it dawned on her. “You’ve got a man and you haven’t told me anything about him!”

“What?” Gracie looked at her, wide-eyed, shaking her head. “Who said anything about a man? I’m talking about my job. You. Royal.”

“And a man.” Beth laughed a little and drew the younger woman to a stop on the sidewalk. “Don’t even try to deny it. Your eyes went all gooey for a second.”

“I do not get gooey.”

“Sadly, we all do at some point,” Beth argued. “So spill. Who is this mystery man?”

Gracie sighed and looked around before fixing her gaze on Beth’s again. “Nobody. At least, not for me. He doesn’t know I’m alive.”

Insulted on Gracie’s behalf, Beth started talking. “Impossible. You’re gorgeous. And smart. And amazing.”

“Said my friend, being completely objective.”

“Fine.” Beth smiled at her. “So if you like this guy so much, why don’t you tell him?”

Gracie shook her head firmly. “No, I can’t do that.”

“Oh, Gracie...”

“Beth, I know you mean well.” Gracie winced and looked uncomfortable. “But can we not? I don’t want to talk about him. Much less think about him.”

“Sure. Case closed,” Beth said. “Mostly because I know exactly how you feel.”

She knew what it was like to be drawn to someone in spite of knowing it was futile. After all, she hadn’t been able to smother her feelings for Cam even though she knew she should. So she really wasn’t in any position to give relationship advice.

“So for the rest of the day,” she said, hooking her arm through Gracie’s, “men are off the conversational table.”